Monthly Archives: January 2016

So today we were out and about, buying things before the big snow storm. It is not yet the Year of the Monkey, but because it is a week-end, they were having celebrations. I needed (not really needed, this is never the sort of thing one needs, but I definitely wanted) some fresh lemon grass, so we headed over the the Asian-Pacific Market to buy some, and to see what they were up to. It’s the place to go to when you are looking for unusual ingredients.

Hey, what’s he doing here. Not a monkey, not even close.

The karate kids were there, doing a routine to some rap music. Karate is good to develop your dance moves.

Then there was another bunch of kids, ready to dance to some traditional music, more rap/pop music.

We needed to get home, so we enjoyed them for a bit. (That drum would look lovely in my elf house).

Then Miss Monkeypaws and I got some Chinese take out and called it a day.

This town has had many health seekers searching for a cure to their tuberculosis. And some were actually cured, but then again, some were not. Among the people who came for the cure in 1902 was Artus Van Briggle. He was a Paris trained ceramacist who had developed a distinctive matte glaze formula for his pottery. He won several prestigious international competitions, but unfortunately succumbed to his condition in 1904. However, his missus stayed on and continued the business and left us with this splendid building.

It’s the ultimate elf house (okay, so I admit I would love to be an elf, or even a hobbit but I am rather tall for this).

The details are so gorgeous!

Like this lovely cat that guards the building.

Or a gargoyle. Every building should be required to have a gargoyle.

And the building is mostly unchanged since it was built.

The business was sold several times over the years and eventually moved out of the gorgeous little building. The Arts and Crafts movement was over, but as we have a plentiful supply of tourists, the market for this pottery continued. I think we bought the large bowl for my mother-in-law, and I recall buying the bud vase for myself some years ago. The pottery finally closed several years back, but I have heard a rumor that someone is planning on starting up again this summer as we still have a plentiful supply of tourists.

I had some time on my hands, so I went out walking with Miss P. The good thing about walking your dog (especially one that walks as slow as Miss P) is seeing all the details that you miss when driving past. We were sauntering along when we came across this.

So I immediately started singing the Hank Williams song “I saw the light” to Miss P and fortunately there were no other pedestrians out and about. But I was thinking about time.

Here’s another sundial, with the motto “Tempus fugit”. Yes it’s true, time does fly. This one was put up in 1910, and it still keeps perfect time.

The clock in the courthouse is still working as well, but it has required considerable more maintenance.

Over in the center of what passes for downtown, this clock has been attached to a store since the 1930’s. It’s motto “Dum Vivimus Vivamus is various translated as “while we live, let us live” or “let us enjoy life” or “let us live well” and all of these are good slogans to guide your life, whichever one you choose (assuming that you know Latin).

It was once important to the public to know the correct time, and many banks and all train stations had large clocks. Now, you can just look at your phone to know the correct time. Which is flying by.

Me and Miss P like to walk in different places, so we can look (or sniff) at different things as we slowly stroll along. We (especially me) like to walk along on cleared sidewalks, so I don’t slip and fall on the ice. Downtown seemed to be the place to go today, and we looked at a number of former religious buildings. These ones have been re-purposed.

This building might look like it was once a church, but it’s not. It was the original synagogue, now it’s an architect’s office.

This sturdy brick building was built for a large congregation, now vanished. It was some sort of art place for a while, but now it is home to an alternative free newspaper.

This former Catholic church is sandwiched between businesses. The last time I was in there it was an attorney’s office, now it is vacant awaiting the next tenant.

Yet another office space, but it’s a great looking building. The congregation must have thought that they would need and occupy this forever so they built it to last.

This final one has had the most interesting re-purposing of all of these. It was formerly a restaurant, and now it has been converted (in more than one sense) into a church! So this place has gone full circle.

It’s been a snowy week, so it’s a great time to make comfort food, those ordinary easy recipes that remind you of home. This recipe is courtesy of my gran. It is undated, but I asked her for it when I was a young woman, so I have had this piece of paper for at least 40 years (perhaps more).

Gran had stopped school when she was 15 to work as a factory girl, and she did not write much, so it is a very minimal recipe. She liked it because it is dirt simple to make, unlike some of her other recipes. I saw an almost identical recipe on the internet today, so it is still popular. And it comes from Kentucky.

Batter ingredients:

1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar (this is really a lot, I usually use 3/4 cup or less), 1 cup of milk, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix this together to make a batter.

Melt one stick of butter in the bottom of your baking dish. What size? I use a 10″ round corning ware pan, otherwise I think the batter is too thick. Pour the batter over the melted butter.

Drain a large can of peaches or cherries. Make sure they are well drained. Place the fruit evenly over the batter, it will rise up and cover the fruit as it cooks. Bake at 350 F for 45 to 50 minutes, or until it is golden brown to the very center.

I used too many peaches in this version, because I had thawed out a large sack of them. But it was delicious, and perfect for eating on a cold snowy day.

My gran is the woman on the right, my beloved grandmother is the woman on the left, and that’s my older brother in the middle.

There are a number of slogans about size, but, “Bigger is Better” is fairly common. Miss P and I were out running errands and I happened to really notice the name of our first destination.

It’s not just R (that could be pirate supplies), but BIG R. It’s a great place to shop for duck lures to train your dog to retrieve. (Miss P is allegedly a retriever, but she is total crap at it). It is a farm and ranch store, so they sell equipment, clothes, work boots, guns, all sorts of unusual items (like those duck lures) and most importantly sacks of feed. So I got three sacks to stock up before the next snow storm.

Then there was this store across the parking lot, not just 5, but BIG 5. I have no idea why they chose this name, I’ve heard of the Big 10 (a college American football league), but who are the Big 5?

On the way home we passed this store, which is both BIG and has LOTS (of stuff). This store has a large selection of weird and unusual items as they purchase close outs of unsold merchandise from other retailers. So, you never know what’s in there unless you look. And look really hard, it’s often piled up in random order.

After all the running around to get our errands done, me and Miss P were pretty hungry, so we skipped the BIG and went for Little. 🙂

Another reason this town exists is because of fresh mountain air. Once upon a time, before automobiles, people used to move here because of the clean, clear air. Especially for persons with tuberculosis, because at that time fresh air and rest was the only cure.

This vintage scene recently appeared in the newspaper. Note the Indian rug in the middle of the room. This is the west after all.

Over the years most of the original TB sanitariums have developed into hospitals But this former sanitarium is now the administration building of the local university. The extension on the front was a sleeping porch, the windows would be open year round for that healthful air.

This photo from the 1918 also appeared in our newspaper. This sanitarium had 35 beds, which I assume means that there were 35 little houses. And there are still some remaining around the city.

They can still be spotted in various places around town. This one is at the entrance to a tourist attraction.

These ones are also in a tourist area, and they remind me of elf houses (assuming that elves are real).

And as recently as 1940, the air was still pristine enough to draw people here. Of course now there is medicine to treat TB. Now people with allergies and asthma worry about the quality (or lack thereof) of our air.